I was just laying in bed with +Erin Saunders​ watching Luke Cage when I hear four loud bangs I instantly recognize as Gun shots. I tell erin to get on the floor while I grab my Gun from my safe just in case. I head outside as a car speeds away. Turns out a young man got hit in a drive-by.....well that's what people are saying anyway. The cops, fire, and paramedics are out here right now 2:15 am. Thank goodness my building is brick and the bangers were good shots.

My co-worker Milo (who's also a Cousin of mine, yeah) asks me if I could cover his shift at a local storage facility a few towns over. The place was DEAD, D...E...A...D.... dead, nobody even approached the place all day. I was in a tiny little shack with no Air conditioning on a Hot ass day and even though it was only six hours it felt like much longer.

I had plans! I was going to go to the Super Walmart in East Windsor and do some shopping but I was so tired and feeling sorry for myself that I just said "Fuck it" and headed to the Target store in my hometown instead.

I head to the grocery section and pick up the stuff I need (Dole Salad Bag, Cuccumber, grape tomatoes, Radishes, Red onions, Ranch dressing, frozen garlic bread, Roasting chicken, Goya Adobo, Boston Market Gravy, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, milk, couple bottles of Pepsi, some multivitamins, Tylenol) and as I'm heading to the registers I take a detour to the Games department. I recently purchased a PS4 and wanted to see what games they had. I was looking around and decided to get Grand Theft Auto V. Now I know absolutely nothing about this game, tje last GTA I played was the first top down one with no plot. Putting the game in the cart I head for the registers and I'm standing in line with a massive headache forming so I grab a water from the cooler, crack it open and then rip apart the Tylenol box and pop a couple pills all the while the Woman behind me just looks at me slackjawed. "I'm gonna pay for them" I said with a smirk. She smiles nervously and moves to the next open line. I pay for the stuff and head to the exit and by the time I reach home the Tylenol has done its job.

I pre heat the oven, get the chicken ready (in a roasting pan with a few pads of butter strategically placed, sprinkled some Adobo, and a Red Onion in the cavity) the Salad is made and chilling in the fridge and I am in the bath relaxing. I get dressed in my relaxation clothes (my Fermi High Seniors t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants) and after heating up the bread and the Gravy sit down to dinner with an Ice Cold Sam Adams.

Its now 11pm and I'm typing this on my phone while Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice (the extended cut) plays on the Amazon channel of my Roku.

I apologize for the length of this rant, I just needed to get it off my chest.

It's been one heck of a weird week full of odd examples of the Credulity of being human. To close out the week I present one of the most devastating examples of Mass Hysteria, a dark chapter in American history which haunts the nation to this day;

The Salem Witch Trials

In 1692 a series of trials were held in Colonial New England, the women involved were accused of being Witches and of using Magic to harm others. While collectively known as the Salem Trials the events actually occurred in Massachusetts and neighboring Connecticut (my home state). When all was said and done 32 people, not all but most of them being women were executed, the majority were hung but a few were burned at the stake, dunked (tied to a chair and submerged in water), and crushed (laid out on a platform with another wood platform upon them, then heavy boulders placed upon the platform). The episode is one of the most notorious examples of Hysteria and is a cautionary tale about Isolationism, religious extremism and lapses in due process.

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Justin Cognito: Something about, tie her to a rock and if she floats she's a witch..

I know that I said yesterday was the final day but I found the following case so interesting that I decided to post about it.

In May 2001, reports began to circulate in the Indian capital New Delhi of a strange monkey-like creature that was appearing at night and attacking people. Eyewitness accounts were often inconsistent, but tended to describe the creature as about four feet tall, covered in thick black hair, with a metal helmet, metal claws, glowing red eyes and three buttons on its chest. Theories on the nature of the Monkey Man ranged from an avatar of a Hindu god, to an Indian version of Bigfoot, to a cyborg that could be deactivated by throwing water on the motherboard concealed under fur on its chest. Many people reported being scratched, and two (by some reports, three) people even died when they leapt from the tops of buildings or fell down stairwells in a panic caused by what they thought was the attacker. More than 15 people suffered from bruises, bites, and scratches.

In the 15th century a Nun in a German convent began biting her companions and visitors. This odd behavior began to spread to the other Nuns in the Convent and even to the other convents in Germany, Holland and as far away as Italy.

No reason for the behavior was ever discovered but modern psychological evaluation suggests that the instigator could've suffered from Tourette Syndrome and the atmosphere of Sexual repression caused the behavior to spread.

In June 2012 Animal Planet aired a special called "Mermaids: The Body Found", this DocuDrama featured a fictional account of a group of Scientists recounting the recovery of a real life Mermaid. Even though it was clearly fiction people actually believed that the Special was factual. The tidal wave of interest on Twitter and Facebook led to a rebroadcast on the Discovery Channel with returning actors including "new evidence".

During the Civil War the Confederate States of America had many plans once the war was over (if they were victorious). One of these was called "Golden Circle". This plan involved a massive invasion into Mexico, Cuba and parts of South America with the plan to Annex these countries for the C.S.A.

I was talking with a thiest and they mentioned that "Proof of God's love is all around us." And as proof he mentioned the "Southern Cross" star constellation, the "Pillars of Creation" and "Hand of God" nebulae.

I tried to explain that it's all just a dash of Pareidolia combined with religious symbolism but he was having none of it. Then I mentioned "line of sight", from our position in 3D space it looks like a Hand or a Cross but from somewhere else it's just a shapeless blob of gasses or a bunch of points of light. And do you know what he said to me?